Wickham The Game-Changing Wizard Of Aussie Distance Divas
Tracey Wickham is one of the greatest distance freestyle swimmers in history. On the day she set the first of her five generation-busting World records back in 1978, we pay tribute to her career and revisit some of the headlines of a challenging life in which tenacity has been her towering strength
On this day in 1978, 15-year-old Tracey Wickham set the first of her five generation-busting, game-changing World records on distance freestyle.
The Controversial Cartonnet
Craig Lord
Wickham's Wonders
Here's one of several measures that allow us to describe her impact in that way: when American legend-in-the-making Katie Ledecky claimed her second World title over 800m in 2015 with the first sub-8:10 in history (8:07.39), the race was the first at which Wickham's 1978 World record of 8:24.62 (4:14; 4:10, like that) would not have made the podium in any World-Championship final in history.
Indeed, the Australian's time would have won the 1982, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2001 and 2005 titles and landed her silver or bronze in 1991, 2003 and 2007, shiny suited 2009 dropping her to 6th, before 5th and 6th respectively in 2011 and 2013.
Her 400m and 800m freestyle world records set in 1978 each stood for almost 10 years. When her records were broken by the next trailblazer on the clock, Janet Evans, USA, they were the longest standing records in swimming at the time.
So, yes, generation-busting, game-changing and ahead of her time in her time.
